Steerpike, Author at The Spectator

Tuesday

March 24, 2015

Isis-gate: Why dogs are out at Downton

From our UK edition

It's been a bad month for dogs, first there were reports of the fatal poisoning of a prize-winning Crufts dog, and now there will be no canine lead in the new series of Downton Abbey. Downton fans were left outraged last year after the Grantham family's beloved Labrador Isis was killed off during the fifth series of the period drama. Conspiracy theories soon developed claiming that the poor dog was the latest victim of the Islamic State, suggesting that the dog had been axed as a result of the unfortunate name similarity between her and the terrorist group. However, Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham, says that anyone who believes that this is the reason Isis was killed off is a 'complete berk'.

Steerpike

Calm down Dave: Eagle camp hits back over chopping board

From our UK edition

What Dave said in his kitchen during an interview with the BBC has blown this week’s news agenda wide open, yet Mr S couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact the PM was in the kitchen at all. After Miliband’s ‘kitchenette’ spin gaffe last week, it was no coincidence that Dave and Sam invited James Lansdale to their plush Cotswold scullery. The contrast to Ed’s ‘bland' kitchen - which Sarah Vine likened to ‘a Communist era housing block in Minsk’ - was obvious. Besides Cameron's pre-resignation, what has got people talking is Dave’s ‘Calm Down Dear’ chopping board, which is clearly on display above the sink.

Steerpike

Revealed: the Etonian inspiration behind Cameron’s ‘shredded wheat’ analogy

From our UK edition

Some voters may be rather puzzled by David Cameron's comments that Prime Ministerial terms 'are like shredded wheat: two are wonderful but three might just be too many'. The most popular Shredded Wheat today is the bitesize variety (above). But Mr S is informed that the original, monster-sized Shredded Wheat was a staple of the breakfast halls of Eton in the late 1970s. When the Prime Minister was 16 years old, a popular advertising campaign was running about how you could eat two of these things but not three. One of these adverts in particular would have resonated in Eton's dining room:- And here's exhibit B:- And exhibit C, a 'down the caff' version:- So all is revealed.

Steerpike

Watch: Gove tries not to burst out laughing when discussing Cameron’s pre-resignation

From our UK edition

Who needs the Comedy Channel when you have Newsnight? The best part last night was watching Michael Gove who has been dispatched to try to make sense of David Cameron's tragicomic pre-resignation. You can't, of course, there is no logic that justifies starting a leadership race on the week you're supposed to launch a general election campaign. Gove could not keep a straight face when coming up with his 'he just gave an honest answer' line and attempts to make a serious discussion about this farce collapsed. Oh, and Cameron was right to mention Boris, Theresa May and Osborne as his three most likely successors - he must be keeping an eye on the bookmakers, who have them as the three favourites.

Monday

March 23, 2015

Steerpike

Revealed: Labour candidate’s joke about Oscar Pistorius shooting

From our UK edition

David Cameron is facing calls from Labour to discipline a local council candidate after they dressed as Oscar Pistorius for a costume party. Gregg Peers - who is standing for the Conservatives in a Cumbria County Council by-election - posted photos of himself in the fancy dress on his Facebook page. Labour's Liz Kendall has said the Prime Minister must 'show he takes violence against women seriously by taking immediate action against his candidate'. The MP for Leicester West adds that 'the Conservatives must explain why they promoted him to senior positions in their party'. But isn't it time for the Labour party to also show that they take violence against women seriously?

Steerpike

Ed Miliband’s brother bother is back

From our UK edition

Miliband finally got some good media coverage this weekend. Alas, it was David rather than Ed who was on the receiving end. The Labour leader's brother was branded 'Celebrity Big Brother' in a glowing profile in the Sunday Times. According to well sourced 'friends', the former Foreign Secretary turned Labour leadership loser has conquered America and is ready to ride back as a white knight. 'David wants Ed to be prime minister. End of story', says a spokesman. Yet reading between the lines, things are obviously still a little bit tense. On Budget Day, David failed to mention his sibling once despite tweeting all the way through his brother's scatty response to Osborne's budget.

Steerpike

Which Spectator columnist thinks Sarah Vine is both ‘an idiot’ and ‘a pox’?

From our UK edition

After Sarah Vine took Ed Miliband to task in an acerbic Daily Mail column for having a bare kitchen, the wife of Michael Gove received a grilling on the BBC's This Week from both Alan Johnson and Michael Portillo. Now, Mr S's colleague Tanya Gold has joined in. Writing in this week's edition of the Spectator, Gold takes time out of her review of the restaurant Kitty Fisher's - which is a favourite of David Cameron's - to call Vine both 'an idiot' and 'a pox': 'Here I address Sarah Vine, or Mrs Michael Gove, the Daily Mail columnist who analysed the smaller of the so-far-discovered Miliband kitchens and decided that Labour is, on the basis of its contents alone, moribund. Sarah, you’re an idiot, an anti-journalist, a pox.

Saturday

March 21, 2015

Steerpike

Are the Tories already planning how to push through their next coalition?

From our UK edition

Are CCHQ already planning how to push through their next coalition? Mr S only asks as word reaches Steerpike that Conservative backbenchers have been urged to return to London immediately after the General Election in the potential event of a snap vote. The pressure is on for any future coalition to be put to the parliamentary party after this failed to happen in 2010. 'There is a lot of soreness about how the party was bounced last time around into accepting the last deal, and we shall not be bounced this time around,' a 1922 Committee source recently told the BBC.

Friday

March 20, 2015

Steerpike

Guardian appoints its first female editor

From our UK edition

After months of speculation, the Guardian have appointed their new editor-in-chief and it is not a man. Katharine Viner, the Guardian US editor, will become the paper's first female editor later this year when she takes over from Alan Rusbridger as the publication's editor-in-chief . The decision comes after a drawn out process which saw the Oxford graduate come out top against her Guardian rivals – including Janine Gibson – in a staff ballot. It's thought Viner had to compete with the publication's former deputy editor Ian Katz in the final round, with the pair both having interviews with the Scott Trust.

Steerpike

Breaking: Ukip not in crisis

From our UK edition

After the Ukip MEP Janice Atkinson was suspended from her party following claims that a member of her staff tried to get a fake receipt to increase an expense claim, media pundits have claimed that Ukip is in crisis. However, according to Nigel Farage's right hand man, this is not the case. Raheem Kassam has taken to Twitter to say that things are going so swimmingly for Ukippers that he even has time to play on his Xbox, while members of the press office have been spending time in the pub. That's all cleared up then.

Steerpike

Jeremy Clarkson rants about BBC at charity event: ‘I didn’t foresee my sacking’

From our UK edition

Next week Lord Hall will read the BBC's report into Jeremy Clarkson's suspension from Top Gear and make a decision about Clarkson's future. In light of this, Clarkson may well live to regret his night out at the Roundhouse gala. Mr S was a guest at last night's charity fundraiser and witnessed Clarkson launching a foul-mouthed attack on the BBC over his alleged 'fracas' with a producer. The presenter got on stage at the glitzy bash and told the audience that the BBC were 'f---ing b-----ds', adding that by suspending him they had 'f---ed themselves'.

Thursday

March 19, 2015

Steerpike

The Guardian sponsors white tie ball at Cambridge University’s oldest college

From our UK edition

Last week the Green Party was forced to cancel a planned black tie fundraiser after their members complained that the champagne-fuelled event was at odds with what Natalie Bennett's party was supposed to stand for. So Mr S was surprised to see that the Guardian has gone one step further and sponsored a white tie ball. The left-leaning paper, which never misses an opportunity to remind David Cameron of his Bullingdon Club past, is listed as a proud sponsor for the 2015 Peterhouse May Ball. The event, which is one of Cambridge University's two white tie balls (the other is held by Magdalene College), has tickets for two starting at £350, not including the white tie that party goers will need to hire for the lavish bash.

Steerpike

Game of Thrones: Charles Dance says Cameron not brave enough to be a Lannister

From our UK edition

After David Cameron was asked in a live Q&A this week who his favourite Game of Thrones character was, the Prime Minster replied Ned Stark - the heroic head of the Stark family, who died at the end of series one. While many commentators were quick to claim that Cameron would be much more at home with the villainous Lannister clan, it appears he made a wise choice. Speaking at the Game of Thrones premiere, Charles Dance - who plays the murderous Tywin Lannister in the series - said that the Prime Minister would not cut the muster in House Lannister. ‘I don’t think he’s brave enough to be a Lannister,’ the actor told The Debrief.

Steerpike

Did Vince Cable think he was presenting the Lib Dems’ budget?

From our UK edition

This morning Danny Alexander is scheduled to reveal the Liberal Democrats' proposed alternative budget. Alas, Vince Cable appears to have missed the memo. Speaking about the budget on LBC yesterday, Cable claimed he would be leading the Lib Dem budget: Presenter: Is it difficult to sit through a Budget like that and be barely mentioned? As a party, not personally. Vince Cable: If it’s the response to the Budget tomorrow, I will be leading and I will be setting the tone of the debate. Cable was demoted as Liberal Democrat economy spokesman in January in favour of Alexander. Happily, Mr S hears Cable will still have a role in the Lib Dem budget later in the day after Alexander has given the main speech.

Steerpike

Currency wars: John Major vs Zac Goldsmith

From our UK edition

Zac Goldsmith recently wrote in the Spectator that it was his father - not the Labour party - who had stopped Britain from joining the euro. The Conservative MP claimed his dad Sir James Goldsmith was to thank, after his Referendum party battled to 'ensure that Britain would never join the euro without the consent of the people'. One man who appears to disagree, however, is former Prime Minister Sir John Major. Major has written a letter in this week's Spectator arguing that Goldsmith did not have any effect on government policy: 'Much as I admire filial loyalty, I cannot allow Zac Goldsmith’s article about his father to go uncorrected.

Steerpike

Labour’s election chief in campaign struggle to hold onto his seat

From our UK edition

Douglas Alexander claimed this week that Facebook has made it difficult for politicians to campaign successfully. He said that Labour were struggling to win back voters in Scotland as a result of conspiracy theories being posted on social media. Perhaps Labour's campaign chief was simply trying to make early excuses for his own performance in the upcoming election. Alexander is predicted to lose his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat to a 20-year-old SNP candidate. In a bid to turn the tide, Alexander has been desperately tapping up friends for much-needed campaign cash. Mr S can reveal that the former lawyer has taken £28,000 since January.

Wednesday

March 18, 2015

Steerpike

Royal baby due at height of general election campaign

From our UK edition

Two of the biggest media circuses are set to collide. The 2013 press storm that greeted the arrival of Prince George looks likely to return when the Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to her second child. Today Catherine revealed that the baby is due next month. 'I'm due in mid-April, to the end of April,' the young royal told a crowd of wellwishers. This is of course right in the middle of the general election campaign. With broadcasters and newspapers spread out over the country covering an already testing five party election, Mr S suspects political coverage will grind to a halt for at least 24 hours as all media eyes turn once again to the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington.

Steerpike

Andy Burnham burnishes his foreign policy credentials

From our UK edition

If Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham's future leadership aspirations were ever in doubt, then take a look at his reaction to the news of Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election as Prime Minister of Israel last night: https://twitter.com/andyburnhammp/status/578116833653305344 Burnishing his foreign policy expertise: tick. Cat-nipping the Labour left: tick. About as subtle as Burnham's recent attempts in The Spectator to rebrand himself as 'mainstream Labour'. The general election campaign has barely begun, and already potential Miliband successors are getting their ducks in a row.

Steerpike

Wolf Hall gets an American makeover

From our UK edition

Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall documents the rise of Thomas Cromwell, one of history's most famous anti-heroes. Chronicling Henry VIII's ill-fated marriage to Anne Boleyn, it is just one of many accounts of life in Tudor times under Henry VIII. However as well known as the story may be, Mr S hears that there are fears it could be lost on Americans when the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Wolf Hall transfers from the West End to Broadway next month. The New York Post reports that producers have made some changes to the play in an attempt to make it more palatable to American audiences.

Steerpike

Nigel Farage: I’ve no doubt my health will have failed by 2020

From our UK edition

After Mr S revealed the strict door policy for the launch of Nigel Farage's new book The Purple Revolution at the Blue Boar in Westminster, the impromptu drinks affair was filled with mostly friendly faces from the media. Columnist Isabel Oakeshott introduced the Ukip leader, telling the audience that 'of all the politicians I've had lunch with over the years — and there are an awful lot of them — Nigel is right up there in the top five of the best people to have what I think he calls a PFL: a proper f---ing lunch". Farage himself was in an ebullient mood, following the multi-day serialisation of his book.